The present disclosure relates generally to the field of packagings for food products, and more specifically, to packagings for food products that provide a more convenient means for preparing (e.g., microwave cooking, etc.) frozen or refrigerated food products for consumption by consumers.
There are many challenges associated with providing consumers with an easy and effective means for preparing food products using microwave ovens. Some of the long unresolved problems associated with microwave cooking include inconveniences to consumers, dryness/sogginess of food products, and uneven cooking of food products, among others.
For example, many packaged food products require users to open a packaging, remove a food product, wrap the food product in a separate covering such as paper towel, etc., and then place the wrapped food product into the microwave. Such additional steps take considerable time and are inconvenient for consumers. Further, food products often release moisture during microwave cooking. Without proper control of the released moisture, the resulting food product may be soggy, or alternatively, overly dry, and undesirable for consumption. Further yet, many food products are unevenly heated when prepared in a microwave oven, due to improper control of moisture and/or other factors.
It would be advantageous to provide an improved packaged food product that addresses and/or overcomes one or more of these challenges by providing a user-friendly, easy-to-use, one-step packaged food product that is also aesthetically pleasing in appearance. As such, various embodiments disclosed herein provide a packaged food product that may be microwaveably cooked in a “one-step” fashion, and that includes, among other features, venting and moisture absorption features to control the humidity within the packaging and provide for an optimal moisture content of multi-component food products.